View full sizeFred B. Thomas, the principal at Wiley Middle School, shed a few tears as he emceed the Closing Celebration program Tuesday night.Robert Nozar, Special to Sun News

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio -- Apparently taking one-third of the district's middle school students out of Wiley Middle School, though a difficult task for all involved, is a piece of cake compared to taking Wiley out of the middle school students. Dry your eyes, Principal Fred Thomas.

That became apparent Tuesday night during a closing celebration held in the auditorium of the Miramar Boulevard school that has been used to educate children in the Cleveland Heights-University Heights school district since 1957. In 15 months, Wiley will reopen as the district's "swing space" high school while the high school on Lee Road in Cleveland Heights undergoes two years of renovations.

Thomas was the main speaker at the event that included musical performances by Wiley student as well as introductions of past teachers, administrators and students. Thomas will become a teacher at the district's high school after Wiley is closed.

Thomas choked up while he spoke about Wiley planting the seeds of success for many Heights district graduates who went on to excellent academic and professional careers.

University Heights Mayor Susan Infeld spoke at the celebration, but beforehand said she was eager to see the district's plans for how it will accommodate 1,600 senior high students and three or four times as many faculty in a building that now houses 400 students and about 100 staff.

View full sizeThe Wiley Band Ensemble was well received by those attending the closing celebration.Robert Nozar, Special to Sun News

If children's faces can be read, it was clear that those performing Tuesday night have acquired a great deal of knowledge courtesy of Wiley staff, along with an appreciation for their education. They smiled, jumped, danced and showed a kinship for one another, the bonds of which will be impossible to break even as they are transferred to Monticello and Roxboro middle schools as well as the high school, Thomas said.

School Board President Ron Register said current plans are for Wiley to return as a middle school once the high school is ready to reopen. It will be a swing school that will also accommodate students from Monticello and Roxboro as those schools are renovated.

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